HUFFPOST / REUTERS: – Employment rose far less than expected in May to record its weakest reading since September, while the jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent as high energy prices and the effects of Japan’s earthquake bogged down the economy.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 54,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, with private employment rising 83,000, the least amount since June. Government payrolls dropped 29,000.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected payrolls to rise 150,000 and private hiring to increase 175,000 in May. The government revised employment figures for March and April to show 39,000 fewer jobs created than previously estimated… (more) 

EDITOR:   Many, if not most economists, warned that prematurely ending federal fiscal stimulus would slow and possibly reverse the decline in unemployment.  The unemployed generate less tax money and their unemployment compensation and social safety net adds to the annual deficit.   It is by stimulating the economy during recessions and getting people back to work that we will again generate the Clinton era annual tax surpluses.

As noted in previous entries, America’s national drug policy began when the deceptive Harrison Act was signed into law by Woodrow Wilson in December 1914. Controversial from the start, Harrison generated a series of affirmative 5-4 Supreme Court decisions based on erroneous assumptions about “addiction,” an entity with which the medical profession of that day was just starting to grapple and still had little experience. Unfortunately, the premature intrusion of the criminal justice system into what should have remained a medical problem would politicize it and severely hamper its unbiased assessment from that point forward. Thus was a new facet of human behavior eventually misidentified as a “disease;” an error that can now be recognized as much more than merely semantic; one which has had tragic consequences for victims of a destructive policy still rigorously enforced the world over.

Ironically, politicization of addiction eventually led to its criminalization, even before it could be understood; thus effectively placing it beyond of the reach of unbiased medical scrutiny. That anomaly couldn’t be addressed until similar “Medical Marijuana” initiatives were passed in California and Arizona in 1996. Even then, the dead judicial hand of the past was quickly invoked to strike down Arizona’s law simply because its use of the word, “prescription” was interpreted as violating the letter of the 1970 federal law its sponsors had hoped to clarify and either modify or overturn.

Thus did ninety-two years elapse after the Harrison Act before Prop 215 finally provided opponents of drug prohibition with their first real opportunity to gather the kind of clinical information needed to scrutinize the basic assumptions underpinning our “War on Drugs.” That such an irrational policy could have avoided critical scrutiny and been accepted as necessary by so many for so long is, in my opinion, compelling evidence of a serious flaw in the vaunted cognitive process that has allowed our species to dominate other life forms while also creating so many of our planet’s serious environmental problems. Thus it’s also the main reason I think cannabis prohibition deserves far more attention than it is receiving.

Norman Zinberg MD was a Harvard Psychiatrist who took an unfashionably courageous and intelligent position on the emerging problems of drug use and addiction shortly after the CSA became the law of the land in 1970. His report on that experience, Drug, Set, and Setting, The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use, (1984) is available online. His cogent description of the thought process he went through in 1972 before opting to make drug users his research subjects was so remarkably parallel to my own in 2001 that I’m quoting it here: “Only after a long period of clinical investigation, historical study, and cogitation did I realize that in order to understand how and why certain users had lost control I would have to tackle the all-important question of how and why many others had managed to achieve control and maintain it.”

The study Dr. Zinberg describes in that book began before either the DEA or NIDA were created (1973 and 1974 respectively) but his results were compared to similar NIDA-sponsored studies. Sadly, the most important principle his study exemplifies: the need for impartiality in “drug research” has long been ignored. It’s a problem he had also devoted considerable attention to, but not now. Under the influence of drug war inspired fear, most of the drug “research” that’s been done since 1975 mimics the repetitive “Monitoring the Future” studies of youthful initiation that have became the industry standard since 1975 and are obviously intended to show that cannabis initiation is “associated” with pejorative outcomes.

A current visit to Hungary and Croatia makes the Watchdog all the more aware of the decline of the United States.

He drove a new super highway linking Budapest to Zegrab (funded by the European Union and private enterprise.)

He stopped at a service plaza that makes the latest Turnpike renovation appear two decade behind the time. (Provided by MOL, a Russian oil company.)

He saw acres of new office building throughout downtowns and suburbs.

Americans who do not travel have no idea of how far our nation is sliding behind the rest of the world.

The main causes:  We over spend 3% of our Gross National Product on the military (not even considering the costs in the lives and spirits of our youth) and over spend 6% of our GNP on health care (despite the mediocre ratings compared to other nations  for its qualitly).  In short, we squander the 9% of GNP that otherwise would go into capital improvements.

It is worse yet.  We are allowing our roads, bridges and public buildings to decay for want of repairs and replacement.  Dodge the pot holes; bump along the alligatored highways; note the rust and pealing paint on the bridges.

When did Lancaster last see major new construction apart from LGH lavishing the public charity’s money on new buildings?  Oh yes, we had the white elephant of a convention center, 90% funded by tax payers and not producing the various benefits promised by its sponsors to justify its existance.

Wake up America to facts rather than sentiments.  We are being robbed blind while basking in past glory.

From USA TODAY:

The U.S. House today rejected a GOP bid to increase the debt limit without any spending cuts to go along with it, in an effort designed by Republicans to put President Obama and Democrats on the political hot seat.

The bill was set up to fail by House Speaker John Boehner and his leadership team to show the need for deep spending cuts and budget changes to go along with any increase in the nation’s $14.3 trillion borrowing authority.

In the end, the bill was rejected on a 97-318 vote. No Republicans voted for the measure…

Click here to read the full article.

EDITOR: This is political madness.  First the Republicans squander the Clinton budget surpluses by fighting a senseless war in Iraq  and upping Medicare medicine subsidies without paying for either  and by cutting taxes for the rich to the lowest levels in close to a century.   Then they blame the Democrats for the national debt!    Worse, instead of dealing with the deficit as part of the budgetary process, the House Republicans are trashing the nation’s credit worthiness by holding payments of our debt as hostage for political purposes.   Have they no sense of shame?

The story of a little white boy who wanted to sit in the back of the bus, and a bus driver who could not let that happen.

http://blog.al.com/press-register-commentary/2011/05/pint-sized_freedom_rider_makes.html

I particularly like his concluding paragraphs, which can be said of every movement for change:

We are all familiar with the great names who led America to a better place in race relations. But the famous African-American leaders were just the figureheads of that long overdue crusade.

The grunt work of that struggle was done by people few of us know or ever will. But their sacrifice and dedication were mighty.

There is much to be said for the contributions made by the countless anonymous people like Lena Gibson who endured and never lost hope and, most of all, learned to roll with the punches – the never-ending punches.

KZ

Gil Smart writes in a Sunday News column “Give the people what they want”:

“Our political class as a whole, Democrats included, remains intent upon giving the people what they don’t want. We haul out the charts showing how Medicare will consume ever-more resources. In a review of Ryan’s plan, the Congressional Budget Office noted, ‘If revenues and federal spending apart from [Social Security and medical programs] remain near their past levels relative to GDP, the increase in spending on Social Security and the health care programs will lead to rapidly growing budget deficits and mounting federal debt.’

“But who says we need to keep allocating money as we always have? How about, for starters, we end the wars in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, close our military bases in Germany and Japan and elsewhere, and put the savings toward these programs the people want?

“Isn’t it the job of the political class, in a democracy, to reflect and work to achieve what the people want?”

Yes, the military / industrial / lobbying complex spends as much money on our self appointed role of the USA being the police person of the world as just about all of the other nations in their world combineed spend on their military.  To do so is their livelihood and wastes perhaps 3% of our Gross National Product (GNP) and sacrifices many of our young and the population of other nations.  (Total military spending amounts to 6% of GNP.)

But we waste 6% to 8% of our GNP on our peculiar health system.  France which has health care rated as the best in the world spends 11% on GNP, which is even high compared to other industrialized nations.  We spend over 17%!

The only way we can protect our elderly (and thus their children upon whom they would otherwise depend) is to reform health care either through “Medicare for all” or an improved Obama Care based on what Geisinger, Mayo Clinic and Kaiser have been doing for years.   We must merge our hospitals into our health care insurers so that the financial incentive is to keep the population healthy, not to encourage doctor visits and hospital stays.

The military / industrial / lobbying complex is no more venal than the leaders of our physician organizations, those running our ‘fee for service’ hospitals and the executives at our stand alone insurance companies. (Independent senator Joe Lieberman hobbled Obama care on pressure from Hartford insurance companies from his state of Connecticut.)  In the good old capitalistic manner, they are having a feeding frenzy at the public trough.  They are not only compromising our health  (the USA is rated around 16^th in the world) but they are bankrupting our nation.

If we can free ourselves from the clutches of the military and medical parasites, the USA can once again obtain rapid growth, eliminate deficit spending (as we did during the  Clinton years)  and provide for the needs of our people.

[EDITOR:  NewsLanc recognizes the skills, dedication, hard work and the excellent care given by the staff at Lancaster General Hospital.  The below is not critical of them, but of how the Public Charity is mismanaged for the benefit of a few at the expense of the public.]

Year after year, the evidence grows that Lancaster General Health system with all of the financial benefits of a “Public Charity” is largely run as a feeding trough for its top executives and physicians, to the neglect of the overall public health needs of the community.

Although LGH masks its operations, embargoing media from its committee and board meetings, it is required by law to publish its annual federal 990 Report and to allow the public access to its Annual Meeting.  (The Lancaster Newspapers did not cover the LGH annual meeting last year despite its abundant news content.)

Even as reputable a publication as the Sunday News either doesn’t have or is unwilling to dedicate financial analyst  resources to plumb the depth of the 990 Reports, so its report relies heavily on whatever spin it receives from LGH  through spokesperson John Lines.

As examples, below are quotes from the Sunday News article of May 22 followed by  NewsLanc comments:

SUNDAY NEWS: “Lancaster General employees have a defined-benefit pension, [Lines] said.  Actual salaries increased by just half of 1 percent across the board.”

NEWSLANC: Base salaries for the executives listed on the 990 Report went up 8.5% for those employed throughout both years.  (Without our appropriate adjustments, the figure would be 11%.)

SUNDAY NEWS: “Hospital CEO Tom Beeman — who has been a captain in the U.S. Naval Reserves for 27 years and began a military leave of absence Oct. 15 — was the hospital’s highest-paid employee in 2009-2010, with a total compensation of $1.323 million, including a base compensation of $649,037 and bonuses and incentives of $300,000. This actually represented a decrease from his 2008-2009 total compensation of $1.347 million.”

NEWSLANC: The drop in pay was only to offset the salary that Beeman received from the Navy.  The trustees were very patriotic with the charity’s money that should more appropriately have been used for the stated mission of LGH:  “To advance the health and well-being of the communities we serve.”

SUNDAY NEWS: Lancaster General provided $83.3 million in charity care, unreimbursed Medicaid expenses and other “community benefits” in 2009-2010, according to its tax form; that represented a major increase from previous year’s total of $71.2 million. Unreimbursed Medicare expenses alone totaled $63.6 million in 2009-2010 — 8.57 percent of all LGH expenses for the year.

NEWSLANC: “Unreimbursed Medicare expenses” are calculated as discounts from the inflated ‘retail’ price, not from what LGH actually charges insurance companies and the Amish Community.  It is as if General Motors treated auto discounts as public charity!  Anyone without insurance is charged the ‘retail’ rates that often lead to personal bankruptcy.

SUNDAY NEWS: “Lancaster General disbursed grants and other payments totaling $3.97 million in 2009-2010, a drop from the $6.66 given out in 2008-2009. The reason: In 2009-2010 LGH gave more than $2.6 million to SouthEast Lancaster Health Services so it could purchase the building for its Arch Street clinic.”

NEWSLANC: Over $2.65 million of the $3.97 million went to the City and the School District of Lancaster in lieu of real estate taxes.  While commendable, the contribution is far lower than would be the actual real estate taxes were LGH a for profit entity.   The County has no economic interest in accurately re-assessing tax exempt properties such as those owned by LGH and Franklin and Marshall College.

Items classified as “Lancaster Public Charity” of questionable appropriateness are: $135,000 to Franklin and Marshall College (“alms for the rich”); $14,980 in supplies for the Haiti Relief Funds; $150,000 for the James Street Improvement District; and $25,000 for the Lancaster Central Market.  Albeit worthy causes, they do not comply with LGH’s “Mission statement: To advance the health and well-being of the communities we serve.”

Conspicuously missing is LGH’s refusal to contribute one cent to the struggling syringe exchange sponsored by Bethel AME church.  Nor would LGH provide funding for the Urban League when it offered to take over and enlarge the exchange.  There likely is no greater pay back for public health than the funding of syringe exchanges, since they not only deter the spread of disease but they also are the entry point for addicts to be referred for counseling and treatment, and thus returned to society as productive members.

————————————

LGH Chairman Alex Henderson and other members of the board have a distorted vision of the role for a “public charity” in a community.  Since the board appoints future members, it lacks public and government input.   Thus, there is nothing that members of the public can do to impact hospital policies and practices.

NewsLanc urges LGH to open their board meetings to media as do government agencies and to allow at least half of their trustees to be elected in the same manner as school district trustees.  Then there would be a greater alignment of the public charity with the public needs.

The ultimate solution would be either a merger with Geisinger Health System or the creation of LGH’s own health insurance company.   Then the economic emphasis would switch from ‘fee for service’ to how to promote good health and improve quality control in order to avoid the need for hospital and medical services and thus reduce costs.

As things now stand, the sicker the population, the more money LGH makes.  This is hardly in the public interest!

From NEWSMAX / AP:

…  The suit asks a federal judge to rule on whether strict compliance with the Arizona law provides protection from federal prosecution or whether the Arizona measure is pre-empted by federal law.

The state law approved by voters in November, like those in other states, decriminalizes distribution, possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes under specified circumstances…

“We have no intention of targeting or going after people who are implementing or who are in compliance with state law,” Burke told the newspaper. “But at the same time, they can’t be under the impression that they have immunity, amnesty or safe haven.”

Click here to read the full article.

EDITOR: “Eight in 10 Americans support legalizing marijuana for medical use and nearly half favor decriminalizing the drug more generally, both far higher than a decade ago.” ABC News January 18, 2010

From USA TODAY:

Americans may waste as much as $258 billion a year by not taking prescribed medications because the missed doses lead to emergency room visits, doctors’ visits and in-patient hospitalizations, according to a study by Express Scripts, an independent prescription- filling company.

A second study conducted by CVS Caremark, Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital cited $290 billion in waste. Both studies looked at data from their own customers, insurance payouts, previous research and survey data. The CVS study also included productivity losses.

Researchers also found that more than half of people who believe they take their medications properly are not, according to the Express Scripts study…

Click here to read the full article.

EDITOR: Recently NewsLanc reported  on  how  Geisinger Health System routinely has nurses pay visits to patients over 74 years of age to promote proper taking of medicines  among other matters and the result has been the reduction by half  of emergency room visits by that population.  Unlike Lancaster General Hospital which receives fees for each service performed, Geisinger is owned by an insurance company which profits through preventive health care thus reducing need for treatment and hospitalization.

From the INQUIRER OP-ED:

The current wave of Marcellus Shale gas drilling has many Pennsylvanians worried about the impact on their water supplies – understandably so. The state’s natural-gas industry faces significantly less environmental regulation than the coal industry does, but its potential repercussions are at least as serious. Gas reserves underlie most of the commonwealth, so gas drilling can be expected to span a much greater area than coal mining, which is now largely confined to 10 southwestern counties.

There is an important lesson to be learned from Pennsylvania’s experience with coal mining. A few decades ago, a relatively new, high-extraction mining technology was arriving on the scene. Called “longwall mining,” it allows the removal of huge blocks of coal – 5 to 6 feet thick, several miles long, and up to 1,600 feet wide.

Extracting that much coal causes the ground at the surface to literally collapse, in a phenomenon that has been aptly compared to a slow-motion earthquake. This has damaged buildings and infrastructure and has harmed streams, aquifers, and waters that were supposed to be protected under state law…

Click here to read the full article.

EDITOR: Over dinner with one of North East Pennsylvania’s most prominent physicians, the Watchdog heard horror stories of yellow lakes, ponds and rivers and inestimable damage to the environment in the the greater Williamsport region.  Future generations will want to draw and quarter Governor Corbett for his refusal to take effective reguilatory actions and to tax natural gas so at least the public can obtain some benefits from the long term damage to our environment and other industries.